Friday Song: “Isn’t She Lovely”
Birth can also inspire great music, as this Stevie Wonder classic shows
Last week, I featured two songs that wrung beauty out of the death of a parent. This week, it’s a song about the beauty of becoming a parent, with Stevie Wonder’s 1976 classic about the birth of his first daughter Aisha — “Isn’t She Lovely” — from his masterpiece, Songs In the Key of Life.
The studio version starts with a baby’s first cry, which was recorded during an actual childbirth. A recording of Wonder (actual surname, Morris) bathing Aisha as an older toddler is brought into the final section of the song.
Aisha Morris lived primarily with her mother in New Jersey, but she and her father have been emotionally close. She attended Wonder’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, and the 1996 Grammy Awards, where he received a lifetime achievement award.
In 2006, the father-daughter pair were nominated for a Grammy for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals for “How Will I Know.”
Clocking in at more than six minutes, Wonder refused to allow his record company to shorten the song to be released as a single. It still became a hit on some charts, and has become one of his most popular songs.
Wonder played all the instruments on the original recording except for some additional keyboards provided by Greg Phillinganes, a renowned session player.
Wonder performed the song live for Queen Elizabeth II at her Diamond Jubilee Concert on June 4, 2012, with lyrics modified to refer to the Queen.
In 2015, Wonder was honored with a TV special — Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life — An All-Star Grammy Salute. “Isn’t She Lovely” was performed by Ne-Yo. Aisha joined the performance halfway through, surprising Wonder, who was thrilled to hear his daughter’s voice.
The live version below is from a 2016 concert in Hyde Park on a lovely evening.
Enjoy!